Why I’m Guest Blogging More

It’s no secret that I’ve been a long time advocate of promoting yourself through your writing. In other words, you should use some of those writing chops for you and not just for your clients. When I started blogging, I advocated article marketing as a promotional strategy, and while that still has its place, an even better way to showcase your writing talent is by guest blogging. I’ve been doing a lot more of it for two reasons.

1. Guest Blogging is Fun

I am interested in all kinds of things and sometimes I want to write about more than just writing or promotion or blogging. Sometimes I want to release my inner geek in my writing or explore an aspect of parenting. Or try to write about something I’m familiar with for a new audience. Guest blogging allows me to do that. Some of my recent guest posts and articles include:

As you can see, I’ve written about a few topics I wouldn’t normally cover here.

2. Guest Blogging Enhances My Professional Reputation

I’m a professional writer and blogger. When my clients see my byline attached to posts on well respected blogs, that makes me look good. (And that’s part of the reason I put in my best effort to anything I write. Whether I get paid or not, I still have professional standards and the only person I hurt if I don’t live up to them is myself.) What’s more, there’s a bit of a numbers game, too. When I first got online, I got very excited the first time I did a vanity search in Google and got 100+ results; now those results are in the tens of thousands. If you’re hiring someone, won’t the person who seems to be everywhere at least make you take a second look? So even when I post good quality posts on sites that are still up and coming, I’m still getting some benefit.

3. More Guest Blogging Benefits

And there’s more. The more places I blog, the more I connect with other bloggers — and I have met some wonderful people through blogging. I love connecting with like minded people and get a lot of intellectual satisfaction and mental stimulation from the process (which is a boon for any writer.) Past experience also shows that just as I recommend the people I connect with to others who need professional writing, blogging and social media services, they also recommend me, so everybody wins.

Do you guest blog? If you do, and want to publish posts on writing, then check out our guest posting guidelines and send me your ideas.